


Call Me Paranoid

by Elyndria



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26302924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elyndria/pseuds/Elyndria
Summary: When Flynn doesn't return home from his most recent mission, Shaw begins to worry.
Relationships: Flynn Fairwind/Mathias Shaw
Comments: 10
Kudos: 69





	Call Me Paranoid

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Paranoid"

Mathias Shaw never considered himself a paranoid man. He was cautious, careful, and skeptical enough for it to be practically etched into his face. But he was not paranoid. In his line of work being paranoid more often than not lead to being reckless, and Shaw wasn’t known for being reckless. He was known for his quick-wittedness. His good reasoning.

But _by the light_ did his reasoning pack it up and take a hike to the Hinterlands when it came to a certain ex-pirate.

Currently, Shaw was pacing wall to wall in his office at SI:7 headquarters. His office was small and nondescript, with nothing in it but his paperwork-laden desk and the chair he found himself spending most days hunched over in filling out report after report. Shaw hadn’t even known himself to be a man who paced up until recently. Even when he had been confined to nothing but a prison cell and the gut-wrenching reality that he could very well be dead by day’s end, he had never paced. He always leant against the cold bars and took a deep breath, calmly considering his options and thinking through his situation in the most logical way possible.

It was what kept him alive. Sane.

And yet here he was shifting five steps forward and five steps back, back and forth, over and over, and not because of the horde—not because of demons or witches or troggs—but because of _Flynn Fairwind_.

Light that man was going to be the death of him.

It had been two weeks since Shaw had last seen Flynn. The Alliance had been busying the former pirate with more and more work recently, mostly in transporting some of their more sensitive cargo between Stormwind and Boralus. It was tough enough to find a captain competent enough to sail between the two ports in less than three days’ time, but doubly so to find one who could also be trusted with top-secret Alliance shipments.

In a strange twist of fate Flynn checked both of those boxes, as he was not only unexpectedly gifted at both sailing and captaincy, but was also a completely trusted ally to the Alliance, recognized even by the High King.

More likely than not, the latter had something to do with him being married to the Spymaster of the Alliance himself, Master Mathias Shaw.

Finally Shaw stopped his pacing, forcibly halting his feet and taking a deep breath. Subconsciously, as he became prone to do in situations that concerned Flynn, he began fiddling with the pale-gold ring on his left ring finger.

Flynn was set to come back from his most recent job yesterday. There had been no word sent to Shaw that suggested otherwise, and according to a few of the crews that had sailed nearly the same route, the weather had been nothing but clear and the seas nothing but smooth.

Which was what made it all the more concerning that when Shaw had finished up all his usual duties late last night and had gone home fully expecting Flynn to be slack in his favorite chair half-drunk and quipping something about how much Shaw must have missed him, Flynn was not there.

After waiting around for a half an hour, figuring Flynn was probably just passed out drunk in one of the local taverns after having several celebratory rounds with his crew, Shaw decided to check it out for himself. He walked along the quiet, moonlit alleyways of Stormwind, checking each and every tavern, including The Blue Recluse—despite Flynn claiming the place was much too uppity for him to ever enjoy a swig there—but ended up leaving each and every one without finding the distinctive auburn-haired ex-pirate in question. Finally Shaw turned heel and made for the docks instead, realizing there was a much easier way to find the answer to his inquiry.

But the _Bold Arva_ was nowhere to be found.

Standards dictated that a report about a ship failing to return to port should be filed only the day after, so the first thing Shaw did the next morning was confirm that Flynn and the _Bold Arva_ were still nowhere in sight, then made that report himself. He then took it upon himself to gather as much information as possible in the short amount of time he was able to spare between his typical duties about any possible reason for the ship’s delay.

He quickly found that there was none. No choppy seas, no need to reroute, and no news of ports being congested and travel being slow. There was simply…no reason.

At first, Shaw handled the situation professionally, looking at it calmly and logically. There were numerous reasons a ship could be late, and more often than not it was never the worst-case scenario. The crew could have been tired and took an extra day off, or they found a poor soul marooned on a nearby island and stopped to lend a hand—an infinite amount of possibilities, really. If the ship had been attacked or in any real danger, surely a distress signal would have reached headquarters, and Shaw was well aware that all ships importing and exporting important goods had gnomish devices capable of sending such signals both manually and automatically if the ship was put under enough stress, meaning there was no real reason to fret.

But Shaw was also taught to treat everything with a certain amount of suspicion, and even though he was usually able to level out those suspicions with reasoning, whenever it came down to Flynn Fairwind it seemed like those suspicions boiled over tenfold into downright paranoia.

And so, even after trying to thoroughly convince himself that Flynn was fine and the _Bold Arva_ was fine and that absolutely nothing had gone awry and that they were simply just a tad late, Shaw once again found himself incessantly shifting from wall to wall and thinking to himself _but what if_.

Shaw sighed and forced another stop. It wasn’t as though there was much he could do about it. If the ship was still missing by tomorrow, he could probably justify sending out a small team to investigate, but other than that he just had to wait.

Just wait, not knowing the fate of Flynn Fairwind.

Something bubbled uncomfortably inside his chest, leaving him feeling at a loss for breath. He forced himself to inhale sharply before tightly shutting his eyes.

Flynn was smart, a lot more than people gave him credit for, and he was resourceful when he needed to be. He wouldn’t let himself die, especially knowing that Shaw would throttle him if he did.

Flynn was alive.

Shaw just needed to believe that.

***

No sooner than when Shaw was back in his office the next day briefing a few of his operatives to look into the still-missing _Bold Arva_ did he hear a rap at the door as Renzik popped his head inside. The goblin hardly ever interrupted him unless explicitly important, behavior he would expect no less of from his second-in-command, but was also the reason why he stopped midsentence and regarded the goblin with an inquisitive look.

“Ey, boss,” Renzik said, letting himself inside. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “Boat just docked. Got your favorite buccaneer on it.”

Shaw’s eyes must have blinked wide, because suddenly the three operatives he was briefing were giving him a strange look.

“Hold everything I just said and wait here,” Shaw said. He circumvented his desk and took three brisk steps toward the door, stopping to nod at the goblin that barely measured up to his waist. “Thanks, Renzik.”

“Yea’ anytime, boss. I’ll hold down the fort while you’re gone.”

Shaw smiled. “I’d promote you if it didn’t mean I’d be demoting myself.”

Renzik snorted. “Whatever. Just say hi to the idiot for me.”

And with that Shaw was gone, taking quick strides out the door, down the stairs and through the hallways of the SI:7 building until he found himself outside. It was midafternoon and the sun was hanging directly overheard, shining brilliantly against a crisp and cloudless sky. Shaw spared no time in making his way down and out of Old Town, hastily approaching closer and closer to the docks, his chest significantly lighter than the day prior.

As he eventually rounded in and out of Cathedral Square the ocean came into view, and with it the many ships that were gently swaying atop the water’s surface; some docked, some slowly setting sail and gliding further and further into the distance. The _Bold Arva_ was noticeably absent, even from this distance Shaw could tell, but there was no way Renzik would have mistaken Flynn for anyone else, especially not with how many times Flynn had, against Shaw’s very strict orders, come barreling into his office to either pester him while he worked or recant a story that he swore was absolutely fascinating, which usually only turned out to be fascinating to one completely inebriated.

Flynn should be there, and so Shaw picked up his pace.

Shaw pushed his way through the throngs of people in the hustle and bustle of Stormwind's port. Since the _Arva_ was nowhere to be found, Shaw figured his best bet would be the Kul Tiran ship currently pulled up to the western-most dock. As he approached, he made sure to keep an eye out for auburn hair neatly tucked into a ponytail, and the moment he broke the front of the crowd and sat just before the gangplank of the ship, he saw just that.

And there Flynn was, very much alive and onboard a standard-model Kul Tiran ship, running around deck and flailing his hands about, presumably barking orders at his crew as they slowly unloaded unmarked crates from the ship. After shouting something else he turned, and suddenly he was facing Shaw, blue eyes locked with green. For a while Flynn simply stared, almost as if he was trying to comprehend what he was seeing, before suddenly his face lit up in a grin. He began shoving his way off deck as he rushed down the gangplank to meet Shaw.

“Mathias—”

Shaw stopped him immediately the moment he was close enough to grab. He caught his jaw in an instant and sharply turned it so he could examine the side of his face. He then turned it the other way to examine the other side.

“Uh, okay. Weird greeting, but okay,” Flynn said.

When Shaw finished a thorough examination of Flynn’s face as well as a quick top-down glance of his entire person, Shaw released his hold on Flynn and let out a small breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Huh? Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Not a scratch on me. Honest,” Flynn said. He then wiggled an eyebrow at him. “You can give me a much more thorough examination later though if you want.”

Shaw gave him an unimpressed look and Flynn laughed.

“Sorry. Couldn’t resist. You’re wondering why I’m late, yeah?”

Shaw nodded.

“Well it’s, uh, kind of a long story. _Bold Arva_ got a bit of a graze when we were nearing Boralus. Nothing serious. She still floats. Figured it would be safer to leave her there though, and Proudmoore Admiralty was nice enough to give us another ship to finish up our delivery.”

“I see.”

“So yeah,” Flynn said. He then scratched the back of his head. “Had to move all the cargo to the other ship. Was going to send a message saying we might be a bit late, but I was pretty sure we could still make it on time—and well, not to point any fingers but we probably still would have if Nelson didn’t spill his rum on our only map _and_ spend the better half of an entire day so seasick we had to slow the ship down because we thought he might actually keel over.”

Shaw almost absentmindedly brought a hand up and gently smoothed out the wool on Flynn’s lapel. “Next time send the message.”

“Worried about me, were you?”

“Only a little.”

“ _Only a little_!” Flynn gasped in mock offense. “Your husband goes unaccounted for almost two days and you don’t even have the decency to be _kind of_ worried? I’m hurt! I could have been dead!”

“And yet here you are.”

“Yup. Here I am. Not dead. Very much alive, actually,” he laughed. He snaked a hand around Shaw’s waist and pulled him close. “And I also haven’t seen you for a few weeks. Which is why I’m still standing here wondering why we haven’t properly greeted yet. So let’s have at it, yeah?”

He then leant in to press a warm, affectionate kiss over Shaw’s lips. Shaw met him halfway, returning the kiss wholeheartedly and allowing it to go on much longer than he usually would in the public eye. He could feel Flynn smiling the whole way through, and in turn he could feel his own lips curling to match them. But just before the two could get completely lost in it, Shaw suddenly heard sharp whistling coming from the direction of the ship.

“Nice, Captain! _Nice_!” someone shouted. Probably one of Flynn’s crew.

Flynn pulled himself away to shout back. “A little privacy, yeah!”

“Go snog somewhere else then!”

Flynn snorted and looked back at Shaw fondly. “Well, what’dya say?”

Shaw took a step back and removed himself from Flynn’s embrace. He gave a quick clearing of the throat before speaking.

“I have a few things I need to take care of back at headquarters before I can be off the rest of the day. I take it you have a few things you need to take care of as well.”

“Suppose I do,” he said. “Gotta finish unpacking the ship and getting the cargo where it needs to go. Not as fun as my suggestion but I guess I should.”

“Then I suppose I should be taking my leave now.”

“Meet up at the usual spot later?”

“All right,” Shaw said. He turned, taking a single step away from the docks before stopping. He looked back at Flynn. “Oh, and one more thing, Captain.” He smiled, much more fondly than he had meant to. “Call me paranoid—but if you ever make me worry like that again, I will personally track you down and make you wish you hadn’t.”

Flynn smiled all too eagerly back.

“Is that a threat or a promise?”

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes I do writing prompts to help me practice. I don't usually post, but after seeing all the amazing work here, I really wanted to contribute! So here it is, my first post!


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